Technological change impacts communities in different ways. While hearing people applauded the “talkies” films, they effectively cut deaf people off from access to movies. The radio offered news, music, and weather warnings, but not to deaf people. Telephones became a barrier to employment and access. Technology also changed education and the physical condition of deafness as hearing aids, FM systems, and cochlear implants came to be used. Technological “advancements” were often assessed differently by hearing and Deaf people.

For almost one hundred years after its invention, the telephone separated deaf people from the rest of society. At work, many deaf people were denied promotions when the job required the use of a phone. At home, deaf people used multiple techniques to accomplish what hearing people could complete with a simple call. Deaf people asked children, neighbors, and friends to make calls. They drove long distances to have face-to-face conversations, and enlisted the interpreting skills of hearing friends and family. When faced with an emergency, many deaf people had no way to contact police, fire, or ambulance services.

In 1964, Robert Weitbrecht, a deaf scientist, developed an acoustic coupler that converted sounds into text and vice versa. Weitbrecht’s technical abilities, along with the financial, political, and marketing assistance of James Marsters and Andrew Saks sparked an industry that radically changed the quality of life for deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States. The result of their labors was called a TTY, or teletypewriter, and later a TDD, shorthand for “telecommunications device for the deaf.” By using a standard telephone handset placed on a coupler, the TTY transmitted and received information and translated it into a printed text via a teletype machine. A flashing light connected to the TTY alerted the deaf person that the phone was ringing. Access to this device meant deaf people could place a phone call to a friend, a Deaf club, or anyone who also had a TTY. 

Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, a host of technological advancements, many of which took advantage of residual hearing, became available to deaf people. Progressively smaller and lighter weight hearing aids were developed. The early electronic hearing aids of the 1950s required large, heavy batteries and came with instructions on how to discretely tuck batteries into underclothing. Later versions could be stored in a pocket or clipped to a belt, and eventually behind-the-ear hearing aids were available.